The American Heart Association says heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in Oklahoma. Now doctors at Integris Health Edmond are using vascular imaging system to help save lives.

When a heart attack happens, minutes are the difference between life and death. The national standard for doctors to open a blocked artery is within 90 minutes of a heart attack. Now thanks to a new heart catheter lab in Edmond, doctors have the chance to surpass that expectation.

Instead of going to the emergency room, a patient having a heart attack is wheeled into the cath lab. Several scans and images are taken to look at both major arteries and small blood vessels.

Scott Tulane, director of radiology said, “By being able to show where the plaque is it gives the opportunity for us to go in and go after the plaque, balloon and stent it with the appropriate period of time.”

On the same table where the patient lays for the imaging, doctors will insert a stent. It the same procedure done recently on former President George W. Bush.

Dr. Santosh Prabhu, Cardiologist says “Within 30 minutes we have a crew in the hospital and the catheter lab. They roll the patient here and hopefully in the next 30 minutes we are able to open up that blocked artery and save the patient’s life and heart muscle.”

Integris Health Edmond hopes this new lab will better serve some of the rural communities within Oklahoma, Logan and Lincoln counties. Prior to this lab, patients had to be rushed to hospitals which took at least 30 minutes to get to.

Performing the life-saving procedure within 90 minutes can be incredibly challenging.